A Time to Rejoice
Dear brothers and sisters,
Greetings to you in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
Life is filled with situations which could possibly lead us to have our heads down. The situations do not need an invitation to show up in our personal lives, our family, our workplace, and in our ministries. Living Water has many challenges. But in the midst of them all, God grants us reasons to celebrate.
Haiti is experiencing a challenging time in our history. Some may say, “What’s new” or “What’s news.” Well, quite a few. After five years of having a better group of people at the head of the country, we are today at a point we really don’t have a president unless the assembly has voted in again the interim president as I am writing these words. This would not be my choice.
One problem in Haiti is that the Haiti government is providing less healthcare lately. It is to the point that the hospitals all over the land were closed for days, even weeks. This situation though has brought many people to our health clinic. Doctor Dan and his crew are much busier serving those people on a daily basis.
The health clinic building looked pitiful prior to the arrival of the missions team from Connection Christian Church. It is a whole different situation now. They have repainted it and it looks good again. Thanks to you guys. We rejoice that we can be a place where many are coming in order to have a better quality of life. Now with the help of IAMM Dr. Dan and his crew are serving Marmelade and Highland once a month. During these visits a good number of people received quality care from qualified people who care.
Our ministry in Marmelade has its set of challenges. A former employee, and member of the church, has turned his back on the Lord. He has since falsely accused our minister there of many things. He has even attempted using witchcraft to get rid of Ezechiel [the minister]. As always the witchcraft has failed. But in the midst of all of this, the ministry is prospering. People are giving their lives to Jesus. Children are receiving a wonderful education and hope is being built. Therefore we have a time to rejoice, not a time to contemplate our challenges and make them bigger than they actually are. Jesus, Our God and Savior, always wins.
Every Sunday since December 20th of last year, the date of the inauguration of the church, whenever I step behind the pulpit on Sunday morning, I always sing “Then sings my soul, My Savior God to thee, how great thou hart…” I have my reasons. Having this building to worship in as a community of believers is something amazing! It is not for its beauty, though it is beautiful. It is not for the fact that we all can be in one place and worship at ease, though this is true. It is not because there is no longer a need to carry chairs, set up for worship and tear down again after, though not having to do this is nice. What makes me sing is “Seeing God’s victory in the face of the enemy.” The enemy vowed that this place where we are worshiping Jesus should be used to set up Witch doctors temples. Well what is being done there on a daily basis is saving lives both physically and spiritually. I, Salonique, could not have done that. But My God is all powerful, He has done that. Oh yes, it is a time to rejoice, a time for our souls to sing praises to HIM who sits on the throne!
We shared this worship experience with twenty brothers and sisters from Connection Christian Church (Saint-Louis, MO) last Sunday. It was far from being our best attendance, but our souls sang praises to Our Mighty, and loving God! My friend Kelly Hart and two of her girls were there. The minister of Connection Christians Church, several elders and part of their families were there. We had so much fun together. We were blessed by them and we hope they were also blessed by us. Yes, it was a big group, but they were “one” in purpose. They were united. They have a great job serving both Gonaives and Highland.
Construction has been stopped on the “Fred Green Elementary and High School” of White Mountain for fourteen long months now. My patience is running out. However, my dear friend Doug Delp, in his masterful ways, has a habit of slipping a book in my bag, or dropping one on my lap or just handing me one. He did so in my most recent trip in the USA and that particular book reminds me who the real enemy is. It reminds me that our battle is not against flesh and blood.
We have decided to fight differently at White Mountain. We have decided as a community of believers to purposefully go to White Mountain and pray for deliverance and victory over this issue. Nobody can tell me why the court decision is not made public. Nobody can explain why we are not given the order to resume work. So I stopped counting my chariots and horses [relying on human beings or our connections]. I and the rest of Living Water have turned to the Lord in a deeper and better way to finish with this.
In the meantime we are discovering some of the false brothers and sisters we have in White Mountain Church. We continue to have other setbacks, like the sound system that the First Christian Church of Mountain Grove bought for the church there was stolen the day after worshiping with them. Our guardian [caretaker] there decided to leave his position. Now in a place where a job is not easy to find, we seem to be in a bind finding the right person for replacement. We continue to be under attack on other fronts as well. However this is not a reason to cry or to have our heads down. It is instead a time to prepare the celebration of our upcoming deliverance. My God, Your God Jesus, YES OUR GOD is big. He has already shown up. Wait and see!
Oh my friends, it is a time to rejoice! Many of you probably remember our project to have a radio station so we can share the gospel in a much broader way. You also remember the toils that we have gone through since. Well, the wonderful news is, “We have been granted the authorization to have a radio station.” This was the biggest hurdle and we are over it. Praise be to God!!! Now, I am convinced you are not going to think that the battle is all over. We have challenges still ahead of us. We need funds to buy the equipment and prepare a studio for the radio station. We need to be on the air very soon. If we are not on the air broadcasting before six months our license will be revoked and we will have to start all over. So please, as we are celebrating Christ, praising Christ for this great victory, pray for Him to send the funds needed for the radio. He is able.
In this time of rejoicing, rejoice with us for the fact that Christ’s name is being proclaimed and accepted more and more in Haiti. Also remember to pray for the United States of America. It is vital to do so.
Please pray also for our two new church plants. Progress is being made on both of them.
May God bless you and thank you very much for your support and your prayers for our ministry.
In Christ,
Salonique Adolphe and team